


After Everything We Worked For

by Sarcastic_Raspberry



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aftermath, Explorer!Harry, Headmaster!Hermione, OC, Professor!Neville, Time Travel, after voldemort, hufflepuff!OC, mind wipe, new hogwarts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-01-17 11:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1385629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarcastic_Raspberry/pseuds/Sarcastic_Raspberry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellianne Birch thought she was a normal little girl until a strange turn of events led to her being accepted into Hogwarts, a magical school for young wizards and witches. This would also be seen as relatively normal, until another line of events leads to her and her three friends discovering that some books they thought were so innocent tell the a dark truth. Under Headmaster Weasley's close eye, what can Ellie and her friends manage as far as these books are concerned? Are they really just stories?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crossing the Threshold

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to point out that this is fanficiton is centered around a large group of OCs but there are quite a few characters from canon Harry Potter too. This is sort of a sequel to the original books.

Ellie stroked the cat in her lap, trying not to get sick as she processed the information given to her a month ago. She was a wizard. How crazy was that? A wizard. The woman who had come to her house to tell her that she was a wizard and explain a letter she’d received said that she was ‘muggle-born’. She said that it happened all the time and that it was nothing to freak out about. It was supposedly normal to wake up one day with an owl banging into your window at three in the morning with a note in its beak saying that you were accepted to a school you didn’t apply to. And it was equally as normal for that school to be for young witches and wizards. Her parents, however, were more than happy to hear that she was gifted. At least, that was how the woman described it. She was tall with bushy brown hair. She said that her name was Professor Weasley, and that she was the headmaster of the school.

No matter what anyone said, Ellie wasn’t so sure about Hogwarts. She also wasn’t sure if she was cutout to be a wizard. She wasn’t magical, as far as she knew, and she certainly didn’t belong in the groups of kids around her. No one even sat in her compartment.

“Excuse me,” the voice came from the door, causing Ellie to look up. Standing there was a tall girl with a sunken face and long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, already dressed in her robes. “Hi, things were getting a little too loud in my last compartment. Could I sit with you?”

Ellie nodded as she debated moving her bag so the girl could sit next to her. She wasn’t quick enough, however, and the girl sat across from her by default.

“My name is Janette,” the girl said, holding out a long arm. “What’s your name?”

Ellie timidly reached out a pale hand and shook the girl’s tanned hand with a smile as she said “Ellie.”

“So, which house are you hoping you get into?” Janette asked.

Ellie tensed. She’d read about this somewhere in one of the textbooks her parents had purchased her when they visited that strange market with Professor Weasley. Okay, she’d only skimmed the page to be fair to herself, but she had to say something or this girl would think she was an idiot.

“I was hoping that I would get into Gruffledor,” she said with a smile.

The girl threw her a quizzical look as she said “You mean Gryffindor?”

 _Crap_ , she thought to herself. “Yea! Totally! Sorry, just a slip of the tongue you know!” she said with a small laugh in her voice.

Janette looked at her for a while before she said “You don’t know anything about Hogwarts, do you?”

Ellie flopped down in her seat before saying “Is it that obvious?”

“Kind of,” Janette said. “Look, it’s not a problem! I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Seeing that Ellie wasn’t cheering up, she continued saying “I could just tell you the names of the houses. You see, Gryffindor is for students that are brave and is symbolized by the lion. Slytherin is another house. I don’t think you’d get in there though. Nobody wants to after the kids that last came out of there, but maybe you will! And maybe you’ll turn the name of the house back to what it once was. Anyway, it’s for students with a lot of ambition and its symbol is the snake. Hufflepuff is all about loyalty and kindness! Their symbol is the badger. And then there’s my favorite house! One can only hope to be in Ravenclaw! The house of scholars! The house where the term ‘bookworm’ is known as a form of praise! The house where those where those who work hard are shown the respect they deserve.”

“And its symbol is the raven?” Ellie asked.

“Yep!” Janette said with a large grin. “Oh! Speaking of ravens, wanna meet Patricia?”

Before Ellie could respond, Janette pulled a small raven out of her cloak. She squawked happily before fluttering up to land on the girl’s shoulder and running the dark beak through the long brown hair.

“Wow, she’s trained and everything?” Ellie asked, wonder in her eyes.

“Yep! She’s a Chihuahuan Raven! May seem a bit dull, but she turns purple in just the right lighting.”

“Super cool!” Ellie said. “Is that a charm or a spell or something?”

“Nope! All Chihuahuan Ravens have it. It’s just something special to them! What about your cat?”

“Oh, this is Dappletail! I named her after a cat in a book I read when I was younger. Had her a long time before I knew about all of this wizarding stuff, but the scroll said it was okay to bring her and Professor Weasley said it was alright herself.”

“Professor Weasley came to your house herself to explain Hogwarts?” Janette asked.

“Y-Yea,” she said. “Does that mean something?”

“Well, I now know you’re muggle-born, and there must be quite a few muggle-borns if she came out herself to tell you about Hogwarts. Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad,” she added when she saw the curious look on Ellie’s face.  “Muggles are just people who can’t use magic. A muggle-born is someone who can use magic but both of their parents are muggles. I’m assuming you’re a muggle-born if you don’t know half of what I’m talking about.”

“No one knows half of what you’re talking about,” a voice came from the door.

Ellie followed the voice to see a girl of average height leaning against the door way with a masculine jaw line. She had short dark hair in a bob with a red headband. What really caught Ellie’s attention was her American accent.

“Hey there, my name’s Nancy! I see you’ve met Janette. Her vocabulary may be intimidating at first. I’ve learned it’s best to lay low and not make any sudden movements,” she said quickly as she took hold of one of Ellie’s hands and began shaking it forcefully.

“Uh,” Ellie struggled to think of something to say before she finally said “My name is Ellie Birch.”

“Well aren’t you just a natural when it comes to socialization,” Nancy said with a slight bite in her tone as she dropped Ellie’s hand. Turning to Janette, she said “So why’d you leave our compartment? We’re almost there you know.”

“You know I don’t do well with people older than me! And those girls were Ravenclaws! Do you realize how much my future reputation could depend on them liking me? Why, if they thought I socialized with someone like you-”

“If they knew you socialized with someone like me, they’d probably beg the sorting hat to put you into their house. And are you suddenly colorblind or something? Those were Slytherin girls, not Ravenclaw.”

“What? But their ties… and their coat trims were blue too!”

“Those weren’t the school uniform robes,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “They probably just like the color blue and wore them out of the house to get on the train. And their ties were green! Not blue. Don’t worry, those Ravenclaws still have no idea that your stick isn’t as far up your ass as theirs are.”

Ellie looked from the girl, who was confusing her to no end, to Janette, who looked like she was going to explode.

“Well, if that’s that then, I suppose you better get changed into your robes. We’ll be there soon,” she stated, folding her arms as she bit he cheek.

“That I can do, see you when I get back,” Nancy said with a smile, picking up her robes in one hand before dashing off to what Ellie presumed was a bathroom.

“That’s Nancy,” Janette said. “I’ve known her since we were five. But we’ve been communicating over Patricia and William since she went to America. That is, until now.”

Ellie held up a hand to stop the other girl as she asked “Who’s William?”

“Her hawk. She got him when she went overseas,” Janette explained. “She said that her dad went to an American version of Hogwarts, but her father went here and wanted that for her.”

“Wait, her dad went to two schools?” Ellie asked.

“No her father went to Hogwarts but her dad-” Janette stopped as she realized what she was saying. “Oh I get it! It doesn’t make a lick of sense when you don’t know she has two dads. The American is her ‘dad’ and the Brit is her ‘father’. Better?”

“Uh, yea, I get it now. Sorry, this is all just a little too much for me,” she said. “I think I have a head ache.”

“Oh, sorry! Here,” Janette pulled out her wand. She then waved it and said “phonophobium, photophobium Eliminare!" At that moment, everything went white and Ellie had to blink a few times to see properly. Dappletail leapt out of her lap as she wretched forward in her chair. “Is your headache gone?” she asked hopefully.

“Yea,” Ellie said. “But I think I’m going to be sick…” she reached for the barf bag on the side of her chair and proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach into the slim paper bag.

* * *

 

Once she’d cleaned up and Nancy came back to the room, the train had stopped telling them that it was time to get off the train and to leave their bags. She put Dappletail in her carrier before slowly walking out onto the train platform behind Janette and Nancy.

After a short boat ride with another girl who wore sunglasses, though it was already night by the time they were on the water, they were at a large castle where they waited at an entryway. Their bags were taken and the teachers said that they would be taken up to their rooms. A man with blonde hair stood at the top of a tall staircase and began to speak to them.

“First year students, welcome to Hogwarts!” he shouted down the steps. “My name is Professor Nitrom. In a few moments, you will enter the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into your houses. I’d just like to take this moment to tell all of you that, while your house says a lot about who you are and will become your family for the time you’re here, we encourage you to not let your houses divide you. Embrace Hogwarts as your family, not only your houses.”

With that, professor Nitrom left them and walked past two large doors into a noisy room.

Nervous about how they would be sorted into their houses, Ellie turned to ask Janette. But instead, she met the face of a girl with long blonde hair and a smile that could blind someone.

“Hi,” she said, reaching out a hand. “I’m Kathy Trinity.”

Ellie reached out a timid hand to shake Kathy’s. “I’m Ellie.” She’d met a lot of people today and was becoming tired of the new faces.

“Pleasure to meet you,” she said formally. “Tell me, do you know how we will be sorted into our houses? My father simply refused to tell me what the sorting ceremony was about.”

“I was just about to ask my friend. Well, she wasn’t really my friend. An acquaintance more like,” Ellie said as she thought about where Janette may have gone.

“She wouldn’t happen to have been that tall girl, would she?” Kathy asked, pointing to Janette who appeared to be dragging Nancy away from some boys who were playing with a baseball while they waited for the ceremony to begin.

“Yea,” Ellie said. “That’s Janette. She said she’s going to try for… Ravenclaw was it?”

“Ravenclaw?” Kathy asked. “But isn’t that Janette Wilson?”

“Uh, maybe. Her first name is Janette so…”

“But her family is simply marvelous, a long line of purebloods without a hitch! She could really go places with the right ambitions,” she said with a small drawl at the end.

“So, what house do you think you’ll be in?” Ellie asked.

“Slytherin of course! It’s the perfect house for someone like me,” Kathy answered. “My family has been in it for generations! Some even believe we’re related to Salazar Slytherin himself!”

Not bothering to ask who this Salazar was, Ellie simply said “Wow, that’s amazing,” as she tried not to sound sarcastic.

Before Kathy could talk more about how amazing her house of choice was, Professor Nitrom came back into the entry way and began to usher students into the ‘Great Hall’. It was a marvelous room with four long tables. One of the tables wore green, another blue, and the other two were yellow and red. The roof was open above them to reveal a magnificent night sky, which Ellie was sure she didn’t see outside with all of the clouds above. It didn’t even appear to have glass in the sill. She turned forward to see Professor Nitrom placing a ratty witch’s hat on a tall stool.

A woman, who Ellie remembered to be Professor Weasley, stepped forward to say “I apologize to the first years, but the sorting hat has developed something of a sore throat in the past year. I’m afraid he won’t be able to sing his song.”

“Nonsense!” the hat said from behind her, causing Ellie to jump back.

 _Hats shouldn’t be able to talk_ , she thought, _it just doesn’t happen!_

But the hat continued to speak in its raspy old voice “I can sing just as well as I did when I sorted my first student!”

“Hat, please,” Professor Weasley said. “If you wish to sing, we’ll have to have a teacher shout the house names for you, and you wouldn’t want that. Would you?”

At the headmaster’s threat, the hat calmed down.

Professor Nitrom then said “Now I am going to call students up one by one. When you get up here, sit on the stool and have a seat with the house you are sorted to. The Slytherins are in green, the Ravenclaws in blue, the Hufflepuffs in yellow and the Gryffindors in red.”

“Thank you Professor Nitrom. Let the ceremony begin!” Professor Weasley said before sitting down at a large table.

The first name was called by Professor Nitrom. “Anderson, Clare!”

“That’s me!” a girl called from beside her. It was the girl from the boat who wore sunglasses. As she began poking around with a cane, Ellie saw just why she wore them. Seeing as no one was helping her find the stairs and the teachers began to give questioning looks at the crowd, Ellie took her arm and began leading her through the crowd. The girl mumbled a quick “Thank you,” as she was helped up the stairs and to the stool.

Professor Nitrom smiled at her a silent thank you. She was about to walk off, but then decided that it would be best to wait until the girl was done. So she stood there awkwardly until the hat called “Hufflepuff!”

As she began leading the girl, Clare, down the steps and over to the yellow table, the table began to clap and a girl with a yellow tie came over and met them half way.

Professor Nitrom then called out for “Arleta, James!”

He continued to call names and worked through the few As and through the Bs until he finally said “Birch, Ellianne!”

She then scrambled up the steps. She was nervous, but eager to find out which house she would be in. As she sat on the stool and placed the hat atop her head, she could only thing of what Janette had said on the train about the houses.

_Gryffindor is brave, she thought. Hufflepuff was loyal, Ravenclaw was ambitious and-_

_No! You’ve got it all wrong. Ravenclaw is the house of scholars, and Slytherin is the house of ambition! And there’s a lot more to being in Gryffindor than bravery,_ The hat’s voice seemed to enter her mind. _Now don’t be afraid, I’m only here to poke around for a bit until I find where you belong. But I don’t think any hat could see what you just did and not shout-_

“Hufflepuff!”

The yellow table clapped again for her as Professor Nitrom smiled and took the hat from her pale hands.

At the end of the long ceremony and list of names, she was happy for Janette, who had been placed in Ravenclaw like she wanted, and Nancy who’d ended up in Gryffindor. The Hufflepuff table gave her some odd looks as she clapped for the two of them. She even clapped when Kathy was called up and placed in the Slytherin house, which some at the Hufflepuff table seemed to be shocked at.

“You aren’t really supposed to clap for people that aren’t in your house,” Clare whispered. “It’s sort of like an unspoken rule.”

“Oh, well. I just met them earlier and they were really nice so, I thought I would just do it, you know?”

“It’s not a bad thing,” a girl who was sitting across the table said. “Don’t worry about it. Just try not to be so enthusiastic, okay?”

“Okay,” Ellie said, sliding down in her seat.

“Thank you again,” Clare said. “Most people don’t help because they don’t know if they should or shouldn’t. But you didn’t even think so thanks.”

“Uh, no problem,” she said, not knowing what else she could say. “May name’s Ellie,” she started, holding out a hand.

“Clare,” the girl said with a smile as she reached out and shook the hand offered to her. As she retracted the hand, she added “Good thing you held out a hand, some people don’t and it gets awkward.”

Ellie let out a small chuckle which was soon joined by a deep laugh. When she turned around to see where the chuckle had come from, she found a large transparent man. She then let out a small scream.

“What?” Clare asked, reaching out to her left. “Is someone there? I can’t see anyone.”

Distracted from the large man by that comment, Ellie said “I thought you were blind. Or can you see shapes?”

“No, I can sense people. Well, not people really. Just their auras,” Clare explained.

“Aw! So we have a small psychic in our house this year!” the fat man said. “Well, my dear, I’m not human! I’m your house ghost! You can just call me the Fat Friar! May I sit next to you? There seems to be no place left and it would be rude to stand.”

“Uh,” Ellie stuttered unsurely before she answered. “I guess,” and moved over slightly.

Before he sat down, another shriek erupted at the table and she looked over to see a tall ghost, drenched in silvery blood.

“Not to worry students, that’s just the Bloody Baron. He’s Slytherin’s house ghost. Very kind when you get to know him,” the Friar said, flying off to meet up with the bloody ghost.

As he left, the table filled with food on every plate. Plates of pork, corn, gravy and other delicious foods filled the table. She wanted to question it, but her mouth watered at the smell. She’d skipped lunch in favor of finally eating on a train, but all they’d had was a cart of odd sweets she hadn’t quite trusted. But now she was hungry and took the meal with thanks as she began piling her plate.

“What’s going on?” Clare asked. “Did it just get warmer?”

“I guess dinner was served,” Ellie said, pleased with her plate of chicken and potatoes. “Need any help?”

 “I can eat just fine on my own, but I wouldn’t mind a bit of help finding something,” Clare said. “Is there pork?”

“Yea, a few chops. Want one?”

Holding up her plate, Clare asked “Could you?”

Ellie smiled, placing a chop on the plate of someone that she was sure she would be good friends with.

After dinner, dessert had been served and then they were told to follow the ‘prefects’ up to their rooms. But one boy, who said he was a prefect, stopped outside of the Great Hall and waited until the other groups had passed before quietly ushering the kids to the side and through a kitchen. He walked up to some barrels before stopping to turn.

“Now, you first years may be wondering what in the world we’re doing in the kitchen. Well, this is our house!” he said, patting a barrel. Another barrel then popped open, covering the boy in vinegar. “Yuck! I forgot about that!”

Students tilted their heads in confusion and a small murmur passed through the crowd as a girl walked over to the barrels.

She said to him “Way to go, Rod,” and turned toward the barrels. Turning to the students she said “This is our repelling device. You see, the other houses have vocal commands. We are the only ones with a rhythm we have to tap, and a repelling device. If you tap on the wrong barrel, like Rod did, or in the wrong rhythm, like Rod did, you get soaked in vinegar. To get it, just tap ‘Helga Hufflepuff’ on this barrel.” She then turned and tapped on the barrel five times, to which one of the barrels separated into two and the crowd of students ooed and awed.

“Step through now, come on quickly! Not even the cooks know these barrels open up!” the boy encouraged as the first years stepped through the barrel.

They were amazed. The barrel’s tunnel opened up to a large room decorated with plants. It seemed to be the inside of a tree with trims of yellow all around the room.

“This,” the girl said “Is the Hufflepuff common room. It’s where you’ll be spending most of your free time. Your bags are up in your rooms. Girls over here,” she said, pointing up a flight of stairs.

“And boys up here!” Rod said, pointing up another flight of stairs. “You might not want to get out of bed after lights out. Mr. Tate is a really nice fellow, but he can get a little nasty when he wants to be, just like the good old badger he is!”

“You can go up to your rooms now,” the girl said. “And if the Fat Friar comes in at night, don’t worry about him! He’s probably sleep walking, or he’s just checking up on you and making sure Peeves stays out.”

“Who’s Peeves?” a boy in the front asked.

“No one you should worry about,” Rod said “but, just to be safe, he’s the poltergeist of the school. He likes to cause trouble and can cause a lot of harm with his pranks. He shouldn’t be too much of a bother in the Hufflepuff house, considering how close the Friar and the Baron are. But if he gives you a hard time, just holler for the Baron. That should send him running!”

“We don’t like to encourage the Baron coming here though,” the girl said, shooting a glare at Rod. “So calling for the Friar should be enough to get him scared. Any of the house ghosts will do really. He’s just absolutely terrified of the Baron.”

“I am too,” a boy said. “Did you see all that blood?”

“Yea, and what were those shackles about?” a girl whispered. “He must have been a criminal. Probably arrested for murders up in the hundreds!”

“Alright, well that does it for tonight! Classes still start tomorrow you know!” Rod said. “Get on upstairs first years, and just stay up there for the night!”

With that, Ellie followed a mob of girls up the stairs, Clare’s hand clinging to her for dear life as she held the cane to her chest.


	2. Chapter 2

Together, they walked down the hall until they found a door with both of their names neatly written on a piece of paper.

“Guess we’re in the same room,” Ellie said to Clare, who had been curious as to why they stopped.

Clare smiled as she opened the door herself. Standing there were the two other girls they would be sharing the room with. One was tall and quite beautiful with dark brown hair that swirled down her back  as she taped a few pictures of celebrities Ellie didn’t know the names of around her bed. The other girl was quite short and simply sat on a bed, clutching a stuffed rabbit to her chest as she nervously looked up to meet Ellie’s eyes. She looked like she was younger than eleven with large brown eyes that didn’t leave the floor.

“Well hello!” the taller girl said. “Come on in! And close the door. My name’s Stacy Lire, that’s Madeline. She doesn’t talk much, but that might just be because she’s scared stiff.”

“Hi,” Madeline squeaked.

“Hi,” Clare said as Ellie closed the door. “My name is Clare, this is Ellie.”

“Yea, I remember you from the ceremony thing. Look, we already claimed the end beds, so you two can choose from the middle ones.”

“Thanks,” Ellie said, leading Clare over. “Do you want the one on the right or the left?”

“You choose,” Clare said. “As long as you don’t switch on me, we’ll be good.”

“Okay, then I’ll get the left then,” Ellie said, laying her stuff out on her bed.

She was tired and would have preferred to just go to sleep, but she knew that would be impossible as long as the other girls were still awake. So, with a deep sigh, she began sorting her stuff in her trunk. She let Dappletail out first before placing the school books in the bottom drawer of the nightstand and small toiletries in the top. On top of the stand, she put a picture of her parents with a small smile. She didn’t care what anyone thought of the picture, it would be a nice sight in the morning.

* * *

 

Ellie’s eyes shot open as she heard noise from all over the room. Clare was straightening her short hair, Madeline seemed to be having trouble putting on a tie and Stacy was nowhere to be seen.

She sat up asking “What time is it?”

“Only seven fifty,” Clare said. “Breakfast is in forty minutes, and registration at nine.”

“Oh,” was all Ellie could muster. Looking around, she found the bathroom door shut and could hear the shower running. Guessing that Stacy was in there now, she began pulling out her uniform. At the foot of her bed, she finally noticed a bright yellow striped scarf with two matching ties and a few pairs of yellow socks. On top of one of the ties was a badger pin.

As she picked it up and looked it over, Madeline said “We all got this stuff,” as she pointed to her tie. “I think the Friar brought it up ‘cause the Prefects said he checks on us to make sure we’re safe, but Stacy thinks someone popped it up here with magic ‘cause ghosts can faze through things but they can’t faze solid objects through walls.” She then turned around, fidgeting with her tie once more as she glared at her reflection.

Ellie nodded at the explanation as the bathroom door opened. Stacy stepped out in a towel and began pulling out clothes for the day as Ellie raced to the door with the basics of her uniform under her arm.

The first class for Hufflepuff first years was History of Magic, which was held in room 4F at precisely nine twenty. The room was empty of any teacher, and the students took note of this before conversing with each other quietly. Suddenly a form appeared through the floor of an elderly ghost.

“Good morning,” he said in an old voice. My name is Professor Binns. I will be teaching you about the history of magic.”

The man looked like he may have been lively at one point, but age had robbed him of his youthful spirit. Now all he had, and all he was, was an aged soul. He still appeared to be trying to engage them, so Ellie tried to be engaged. But the ghost was just so terribly boring as he went over class rules.

“And just remember,” he finished “I may be an old man, but I’ve seen quite a bit in my time at Hogwarts! Why, I even taught most of the professors here, including Headmaster Weasley herself, along with many famous wizards outside of these walls.”

“You mean like Harry Potter?” a boy asked, a large grin on his face.

Ellie didn’t know the name, but the boy’s voice had managed to give her attention something to grasp to.

The elder teacher smiled as he said “Ah yes, Mr. Potter was a smart young lad! If it wasn’t for the ghosts of this school swearing never to tell a living soul what that great man did for all of us, I would be more than happy to tell you all a few stories about him as a boy. But I’m afraid that is out of the question.”

“What great things?” Stacy asked. “I thought he was an explorer.”

“Yea, and a pretty good auror before that!” the boy said, his face full of excitement. “He was also the seeker for the quiditch team in his second year!” Turning back to the ghost, the boy gave a sad look as he said “Please tell us about Harry, sir! So little is known about his school life!”

“All of his young life is a mystery really,” another girl said. “No one really knows what happened after his parents died in a car crash.”

“C-Car crash?!” Professor Binns looked angry now as he flew over to the girl. “Who said Lily and James died in a car crash?! Why I never! Let me tell you something girl-”

“Professor Binns!” a familiar voice called from the back of the room as Professor Nitrom ran to the ghost and began consoling him. “It’s alright, Binns. Remember? They died in a car crash. This girl did nothing wrong, its fine. Remember?”

“Y-Yes,” he said. “Indeed. I remember that. I am so sorry, Ms. Lucille, my mind must have slipped away.”

The girl, who looked like she may not trust any of the ghosts again managed to say “It’s okay Professor Binns, I know you didn’t mean it.”

“Very good then, ah yes, Professor Nitrom, what did you want from me again?”

“I just came down to ask if I could have that book on dark creatures back. I was just passing them out to my first period and realized I needed it back,” he said. “I was going to wait until the end of the period, but… something told me I was needed down here.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you were. Allow me to get that book for you.” The elderly ghost then floated through a wall while Professor Nitrom stayed behind to look after the student who had just been blown away by the ghost’s words.

“That’s Professor Nitrom,” Madeline said from behind her, causing Ellie to turn around. “My dad knows him. He said that he’s really jumpy.”

“He teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts, doesn’t he?” Clare asked.

“Who cares,” Stacy said “Why does that ghost care so much about Harry Potter’s parents? They died in a car crash, big whoop! It’s a little sad, but it’s not like he knew them personally.”

“He could have,” Ellie said. “You never know.”

Soon, their conversation was brought to a halt as Professor Binns opened a door before floating through the crack and handing Nitrom the book.

“See, Madeline, I told you ghosts couldn’t bring solid objects through doors,” Stacy said.

* * *

 

The rest of the class had been uneventful after Professor Nitrom left. Professor Binns had said a few more rushed apologies before he restated the classroom rules, having forgotten he’d said once already. Transfiguration with Slytherin was next, and it was a class she wasn’t particularly looking forward to. You see, leading up to Ellie’s acceptance letter, there had been quite a few events that involved her turning objects into other objects. It had always been for just a split second, then she’d look back at it and it would have changed back into a stapler or a pencil or whatever it was. But there was one time she’d never forget.

It was just another day at primary school, and the girls in her class had been poking fun at her again. She was only skin and bones, so there was no need to wear a bra, but the other girls were already in training bras. This led to much teasing. The other girls, only being ten and eleven, didn’t have very large chests but they still saw fit to point out how they were at least developing. They began telling her that she may as well cut her hair short and just become a boy. Ellie simply voiced the fact that she had no intention of cutting her long blonde hair, which had been at her waist at the time, so the girls decided to give her a reason. The assault was quick as they stuck gum into her long golden hair and began chopping off bits to ‘Help her’. When they were done with her, she was left a sobbing mess to go home to her mother in tears. She’d had to cut her hair in a boys’ fashion to make it even slightly presentable.

The next day, when she walked into school, all of the girl’s pencils had turned into worms and she’d simply laughed at them as they struggled to get them off their hands. This was not the last of the times Ellie had transformed things that belonged to the girls. It was always on accident, but the last change was significant. Part of the school uniform had been either a headband or the girls had to tie their hair back. It was quite a laugh when these headbands and hair ties suddenly morphed into large wads of chewed gum. Most of them had to shave their heads. She couldn’t even be pinned for this act, seeing as how chewing that much gum would have broken the jaw of the tiny girl. Most parents just blamed their daughters and took away their gum for the rest of the school year.

Funny or not, she’d done all of this on accident. Trying something like it on purpose was sure to end in disaster. Luckily their professor, Professor Dinova, had no intention of having them transform chairs into cats or whatever they were going to do in that class anyway. Not on their first day at least. Instead, she levitated a few papers onto their desks and began reading them her short syllabus.

“Hey,” a familiar voice came next to her as she turned to see Kathy giving her a large smile.

“Oh, hi,” Ellie said.

“Thanks for clapping for me at the sorting ceremony.”

“Oh, you saw that, huh?” she asked, sinking low in her chair.

“Yea, you were kind of hard to miss. Don’t worry though! Everyone makes mistakes! And it wasn’t even what I would classify as a ‘mistake’. You clapped for me like a friend would, and that’s what makes you a good person.”

“Th-Thanks,” Ellie said, shining a small smile of her own as she slumped over the table.

“So I hope there aren’t too many rules,” Professor Dinova’s loud voice captured her attention once more. “I like to have fun in this class, so there will be little reports or essays. Also, more for safety’s sake than yours, I try to keep homework to a minimum. Don’t want you turning a match into a fire over a needle now do we?” said, bringing a laugh from the class. “No, no, we don’t want to set Hogwarts aflame. So, I like to keep it simple for first years. Turning a match to a needle is something that all Transfiguration teachers have started out with. It’s good practice, and it’s not too difficult. You see, Transfiguration is all about imagining the object.” She pulled out a match and placed it on her desk. “Think about the size and shape of it. What is it made out of? And then, match to needle!” she casted the spell, turning the wooden match into a small metal needle. Holding it up for the class to see, she said “It’s just that easy.”


	3. Chapter 3

As Ellie threw a goodbye over her shoulder to Kathy, she turned forward to find Clare waiting for her.

“So, what’s next?” she asked.

Looking at her schedule, she found it on the list. “Flying?” she questioned.

“Oh,” Clare said. “This should be fun.”

“Why’s that?” Ellie asked.

Clare then proceeded to wave her hand in front of her face with a dumb grin as she said “This might be a bit of a problem, don’t you think?” She dropped her hand, along with the grin as she added “Not like they’d let me near a broom. I might kill everyone.”

“Oh come now, I’m sure our teacher won’t be that-” she stopped. “Did you just say broom? As in, witches on broomsticks broom?”

“Yea and I hear they’re awful shabby brooms too. So much abuse has left them with their fair share of trust issues over the years” Clare said as she straightened up a bit.

“How are we supposed to drive brooms?” Ellie asked. “Do they link with us psychically or is there buttons? Where could they be? Is it like a car with how tight you grip it how fast you go? That could be rather, dangerous, couldn’t it?”

“Everyone rides them in the wizard world, sort of like bikes. So it might not be, but I don’t know for sure, my father never let me have one,” Clare said. Thinking about it she added “Well, it’s not like I ever asked. But I’m sure he’d say no. He’s been awful protective since I went blind.”

“You mean you weren’t born this way?” Ellie asked.

“No. You see, my mum was gone from the house for long periods of time. Dad wasn’t able to watch me all the time because of work, and I was always too sick to go to a daycare, so he had a sitter come over. She… wasn’t very observant. I was only four and we didn’t have child locks on the chemical cabinets,” her voice got slow. “It’s a miracle I survived really. Dad says I made all of the light bulbs explode. That was how she found me on the bathroom floor. She just had to follow the light bulbs.”

“Oh my god,” Ellie said. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Clare said. “Not like there’s anything you could do about it, and it’s not your fault.” After a while, she added “Hey, do you feel that?”

“What? What is it?” Ellie asked, looking around.

“It’s a lot of energy. And it seems to be heading straight for us,” Clare said, further puzzling the blonde.

Before she could ask for more details, Ellie was pounced upon by a lengthy girl in a Ravenclaw uniform.

“Ellie! So good to see you! Come on, you two! We’ll be late for Flying Lessons!”

Janette’s excited voice called over the sound of the ringing in Ellie’s ears as she pulled her and Clare down the hall to the door that lead outside of the school and into the court yard.

“Clare, this is Janette,” Ellie said as they both struggled to keep up with the excited girl.

“Ah yes! Your Ravenclaw friend!” Clare said, remembering the bright flash the girl’s aura gave when the hat called the name of her house.

When they stopped in the yard, Janette turned around and held Ellie’s hands before jumping up and down. “Yep! I got into Ravenclaw! Isn’t that exciting? I think it is! I’m so happy I got into Ravenclaw, my pop would be so proud of me! He was in Ravenclaw, and so was his mum, and now I am too! Isn’t that great?” she asked, stopping her excited jumping long enough for Ellie to catch her balance.

“Uh, yea,” Ellie said. “Real exciting, good for you. Well, this girl you kidnapped, along with me, is Clare.”

Turning to the girl, Janette held out a calm hand as she said “My name is Janette, pleasure to meet you.”

Clare stumbled around for her hand as she said “Same to you.”

Suddenly, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws began flooding into the yard where they stood, all of them chattering about something or another, soon to be followed by a tall man with a lithe figure and lengthy arms.

“Hello class. I am Professor Wickmore, and I will be teaching you how to fly a broom. Please line up in alphabetical order, now,” the tall teacher said in a very proper tone of voice before the students scurried about, asking each other their last names.

Her last name being ‘Birch’, Ellie propped her and Clare up at the front of the line as the other students filed in next to them.

“Now, I take it that you all know the basics of flying a broom,” he said, only to stop his walk with a tired look on his face upon spotting the handful of worried students. “But maybe it would be best if I show you all how to properly board one. Simply for safety’s sake, of course.”

A few other students seemed to sag forward in relief. Ellie herself guessed that these students were also muggleborns, or maybe riding a broom wasn’t like riding a bike at all.

Professor Wickmore whistled, to which a large broom, much different from the others lined in rows behind him, flew out to greet him. “This is my own broom, brought from home. It is not different in model from yours. The only differences you see here are customization and the fact that this broom has only seen one owner as opposed to years upon years of students riding upon it. On a side note, I advise you not to customize brooms yourself in the future. It can be very dangerous, and cost hundreds of dollars in repair. I got mine done at a shop. Brooms are extremely delicate, and are not the inanimate objects most wizards believe them to be. They have emotions and feelings, in their own way. I’d like all of you to remember that when you ride these brooms.”

He then stepped closer before plucking the broom out of the air and sitting on it. “Now, just for today, I’d like you all to follow me and do a simple kick off. Like so,” he said, kicking up from the ground so that he was floating a good three feet off the ground. “See? It’s not so hard. Now get to a broom, but don’t touch it.”

The students did not have to be told twice as they raced to find a broom that wasn’t missing as many straws as the others. As Ellie found a place next to Janette, she looked around to find Clare talking to the gym teacher. She had a worried look on her face and the coach touched her shoulder before steering her toward the brooms. She found Elli fairly quickly, and filled in the spot next to her. This would happen again and again as time went on, and Ellie would always be amazed.

“What did he say?” she asked.

“I was just asking if he wanted me to run laps or something, and he said to try flying and see how it goes,” Clare answered, smiling a bit as she did. “I’m glad that he trusts me not to kill everyone when we get up in the air.”

Ellie shot a large smile, which she knew meant a lot in principle, and said “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Alright, please place your hand over the broom to your right,” Wickmore said, flying around on his broom as he observed the students. “Good, now just say ‘up’ and will the broom to come to you.”

Before anything had come out of Ellie’s mouth, Clare shouted “Up” and the broom flew into her hand. She caught it with a stunned expression as she felt it to make sure what she caught was actually the broom. “I did it,” she said to herself.

“Good job, Miss Anderson!” Wickmore said as he flew past, calling attention to her.

Other students became frantic now, shouting at their brooms.

“Up!” Ellie said. “Up! Come on, please!” she began to beg as others’ brooms began to fly into their hands. “Up!”

Finally the broom met her hand, almost sending her back. In fact, it shot up with her dangling by her arm.

“Hey, get down from there!” Wick more said, flying up. Ellie shrunk as she felt like this was the end. She was never going to ride a broom again. But then, her teacher soared past her and up to eyelevel with the broom. “Listen here, and set her down this instant!” he yelled at the broom.

Below, she heard some kids saying “He’s a nutter.” “Brooms can’t listen to people!”

But he continued. “I’m going count to three! One, two-”

He didn’t make it to three before the broom fell to the ground, dragging Ellie with it as it made contact with the hard earth. Professor Wickmore lowered himself and stepped off his broom to help her up.

“Sorry about that,” he said as she stood, giggles dying down around them. “That was one of our more antsy brooms. He didn’t mean any harm.”

“It’s no problem,” Ellie said, pulling up the sleeve on her robe with a small smile. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer as he said “Good! Alright, well just try again. He’s a good broom, he’ll listen to ya’ now.”

Cautiously, Ellie put her hand over the broom again. Quietly saying “Up.”

The broom flew up to meet her hand immediately and she didn’t dare let go of the wooden handle.

“Good, very good! Just loosen up a bit, Ms. Birch. We’ll make a rider out of you yet!” He said before getting back on his broom and sweeping around the court yard to see everyone else’s progress.

* * *

All too soon, the class ended and they helped put the brooms back where they came from before departing.

“So where do we go now?” Ellie asked as they exited the court yard.

“Now it’s time for break,” Janette said. “We’re free to roam around the school grounds, but I promised Nancy I’d meet her in the library. She seemed excited about something. Care to join us?”

“Uh, how about you Clare?” she asked. “What do you think we should do?”

“The library sounds nice,” Clare said. “I heard they have books that will read themselves to you!”

“Well come on then!” Janette didn’t wait for Ellie’s answer, as if it would have been any different, as she dragged both girls down the hall.


	4. Chapter 4

The library was full of students who were also on their first break for the day. Most of them were holding books that were more down the ally of fiction. Or so Ellie thought. She couldn’t be sure anymore, but assumed she was right. Quickly, both she and Clare followed Janette to the farther corner of the library where a large amount of the books were series related and Nancy was hunched over, reading. She hadn’t known the American for long, but it was kind of off putting.

She didn’t notice them at first, two wrapped up in her story to see them or hear them as they approached. So, Janette tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump up a bit before shooting her a bright smile. She almost flew out of the chair. She grabbed the book off the table, making sure to keep her finger on the page she was on, and held it up to show Janette.

“Look. What. They. Have!” she whisper-yelled to her, continuously motioning to the book.

Janette looked as though she was going to tell her to step a few feet backwards, but simply looked at the book. Her eyes grew wide and she double checked the cover. “Is that the new Harry Potter book?!” she asked, earning a few shushes from other students, and even a handful of the portraits. “Sorry.”

“Yea it’s the new Harry Potter book! Can you believe it? It’s not even in stores yet!”

“Wait Harry Potter? You guys are into that series? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Clare said. “That series is so over rated.”

Janette and Nancy had both let out audible gasps after they  heard that, and Nancy clung to her book as if it was a newborn child and Clare was some sort of monster that was coming after them.

“It is not overrated! These books are spectacular!” Nancy said. “And the best part? Everything is true, as in, it all happened!”

“Wait, wait, who’s Harry Potter? Isn’t that the explorer guy I heard about in history class?” Ellie asked.

“Yes,” Clare said. “Ugh, he was this kid that went to Hogwarts. He was the seeker for the quiditch team in his first year and some odd stuff happened to him so someone decided to make a fictional biography for him because even the kids who went here can’t tell you much about him and everyone refuses to talk about it.”

“It’s not fictional!” Nancy said.

“Actually, I’m going to have to agree with her on that. The books are fictional, Nan. You know that,” Janette said, pulling away from Nancy and her “child”.

“Oh really? Then how do you explain the chunks of memories everyone’s missing that coincide with the events of the book? Huh?”

“Those are things you read in online forums, which could be fake. On the off chance they weren’t entirely made up: the Placebo Effect. When these people heard that others couldn’t remember things on such and such date, they also forgot.”

“Oh really? And this happened with over one thousand wizards?! What about the missing school records? The fact that Tom Riddle was an actual student? How do you explain that?!”

Another chorus of shushes rang through the library and no one bothered to apologize this time.

Janette looked as if she was going to continue, but thought better of it as she said “Look, before you start spoiling everything, I think we should take into consideration that there is a muggle-born who we could totally get into this series!” she said, jaw clenched as she nodded her head over to Ellie.

“Oh! No thanks,” Ellie said while she dismissively waved her hands. “I’m not that big of a reader! If they make a movie, let me know!”

“Oh no you don’t!” Nancy said, handing her one of the books from the shelf.

Ellie’s pale fingers lightly caressed the book cover, laminated in the standard library fashion. The title of the book read: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. For some reason, the cover intrigued her as if she’d seen it before. “I think I’ve read this book before,” she said.

“Ha! Nice try,” Nancy said. “These books reveal too much information about the wizarding world. It’s a shame, but they won’t be released into the muggle world.”

“That’s not true!” Janette whispered. “Apparently, J.K. is appealing to the Ministry to see if she can get it published over there.”

Nancy scoffed at that. “Then I just wish that they way the Ministry in  the book acted was fictional. Look at the way they act! They’d never let a wizard so much as sneeze in the muggle world and get away with it. They’ll never let this slide! It’s too bad though. The only way I was able to get copies was through you, and I think that William won’t be able to carry anymore-”

She was cut off as yet another row of shushes came from all shelves around them before the students went back to their browsing. Nancy mumbled something about people minding their business, but remained quiet for the most part.

After having the book forced into her hands for the third time as they were walking to the checkout counter to get Janette and Nancy the only two harry potter books in the library, Ellie declared to herself that the book couldn’t possibly be as overrated as Clare claimed it was if her other friends were so interested in it. So she checked it out for herself, much to the delight of the other two girls. Now they were on their way to lunch with their class break over. Ellie made a move to sit next with the rest of them, only to see Janette walk over to the Ravenclaw table and Nancy to the Gryffindor, leaving her and Clare in the middle.

“Hey, where are you guys going?” she asked.

“Oh right! Well, you see, it’s not that we don’t want to sit with each other,” Janette said. “It’s just that, house tables tend to stick together here so, you know. It’d be kind of weird if we all hung out at one table, since we’re not in the same house. Get it?”

Ellie didn’t really understand, but took it as an “unspoken rule”, like when she clapped for them when they got their desired houses. So she just smiled and gave Janette a nod. She would have done the same for Nancy, but she was already off at the other table. So she sat down with Clare and began helping her pile up her plate for lunch.

* * *

 

The next class was charms. She led  Clare there, only to be stolen away by an unseen arm and placed in the middle of a group of Slytherin. So they shared another class, that was a nice surprise, but an even bigger surprise was the people surrounding her.

“Hey Ellie!” Kathy said next to her.

“Uh, hey Kathy!” she said, being polite before looking at the excited hand that set her down in the group. This girl had unnaturally red hair and gave her a polite smile.

“Hi, you must be Ellie. I’m Deanna,” she said.

“Yea, and I’m Mark,” a boy behind her said, brushing away his curly brown hair.

“Uh, nice to meet you guys!” she said, nervously looking for Clare. Once she found her, she was glad to see that Stacy had helped her back to her seat. But the next moment, Stacy was glaring at her. It wasn’t her fault, she’d just been kidnapped. But she couldn’t say that now, because class was starting.

A woman twirled out of a closet wearing an hourglass dress with the ends fluffing out. She twirled her wand in her hands as she looked around at the children who remained silent before her. “Good evening! You can call me Ms. Belgrade. I’m going to be your charms teacher. Now, I like to keep things fun, alright? So I can see that we have a full house and I hope you all like to have fun too. Am I right?” The class responded with a loud cheer. “Alright, in that case, we’re going to have a super year!” Using magic, she levitated the papers onto everyone’s desks. They read the rules/expectations for the year. “Okay so, one thing, everything that I teach you in here is not a toy! Got it? We like to have fun, but fun can get pretty dangerous without some supervision so just keep an eye out for that.

“Next up is more or less for the quicker kids: Help each other out! Seriously, if you finish early, I trust that you know what you’re doing. You’ll probably help out a lot more by actually doing something than by just sitting them and watching them set their desk on fire or something. Am I right?” A small amount of chuckles filled the room at that and she continued. “If you need a little incentive: Their desk is connected to yours so… If their desk catches on fire.” She put up her hands as if to say “I don’t know” which caused full laughter to spread through the room without division.

It made Ellie smile to see two of the houses laughing together, and she remembered what Mr. Nitrom said on their first day:

“…while your house says a lot about who you are and will become your family for the time you’re here, we encourage you to not let your houses divide you. Embrace Hogwarts as your family, not only your houses.”

* * *

 

As they filtered out for their second break, which was right after their long charms class, Kathy stopped her. “Where are you going? We just met up again!” she said.

“Oh, I was just going to meet up with Clare,” Ellie explained, waving to Stacy and Clare. Though Clare couldn’t see it, the gesture was still there.

“Oh, okay then! I guess we’ll talk more tomorrow. Good bye then!” she said, walking away with Deanna and Mark.

 _She’s really nice_ , Ellie thought as she walked over to Clare and Stacy. _I’m never going to understand why Slytherin kids get such a bad rep._

Stacy smiled at her when she got over, saying “Oh hey Ellie! We were gonna go up to the common room, wanna join us?”

She was about to say yes, but put her hands on her sides as she said “Wait a minute, weren’t you glaring at me just now? In charms?”

“What?” Stacy asked, tilting her head. Then, a look of realization came over her. “Oh! I get it, no. I was glaring at that Mark kid. Ugh, let’s just not talk about it. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”

Having been told otherwise, Ellie swiftly dropped her arms and said “Oh, sorry! I just thought you were angry because- Oh right!” she turned to Clare and said “Clare, I am so sorry! You must have thought I ditched you or something! I started worrying that you wouldn’t be able to find a seat or look for me or something like that but then I saw that Stacy was already helping so I just-”

“Ellie, calm down!” Clare said with a small laugh. “Look, it’s no big deal! Let’s just get back to the common room, okay? Jeeze, I’m not helpless! I still have my eyes and ears you know- not to mention I can still see where people are. And the fact that you left me in a room full of people that are pretty much aquainted with the whole blind thing, so it wasn’t like I was lost in the woods or something like that! I’m fine.”

Ellie sagged with relief. So no one hated her yet. Good this was already going much better than her normal school. She just wished that she had less friends here to worry about. But at the same time, she loved the amount of people in her life and the variety they carried. Maybe Hogwarts was a family after all.


	5. Chapter 5

As the three o’clock bell tolled through the school, Ellie sat in the common room with a book in her lap. She couldn’t tare her eyes away from the pages.

“Are you still reading that garbage?” Clare asked, causing her to look up.

“It’s actually really good. I’m almost done with it.”

“How are you almost done?” she leaned over and grabbed the book, but didn’t take it out of her hands. “This isn’t ‘almost done’. Ellie, you have like, three quarters left.”

“Yea, come on,” Stacy said. “We were planning on having a small bash up in our room. You know, nothing fancy, just like a sleep over to get to know each other better. We can’t do that without you.”

Ellie looked up at them and then the book in her lap. She felt compelled to finish it tonight, but friendship was important as well. She used a tissue from the box on the table beside her to mark her place before the giddy duo led her up the stairs. Once in their room she saw a spread of boardgames she didn’t recognize and snacks of the same. Throwing the book on the bed, she couldn’t help but feel like she was abandoning something important. But she rolled it off and simply sat on the floor with the rest of them and smiled. Games were played and hobbies were shared between them.

But, when the festivities died down and the games were packed away, she crawled under her covers with a flashlight she brought from home. There she began on the three quarters she had left. She finished the book that night.

\--

Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students filed into the classroom for Defense Against the Dark Arts class at the start of their first B scheduled day. It was the only class everyone shared. Once again, a teacher was not present and they were left to talk amongst themselves. That is, until a sudden chill swept the room and a crack of thunder was heard from the desk and Professor Nitrom stepped out of a cloud of smoke with a smile on his face.

“Hello class.” There was a low hush of awe that spread throughout the room as he walked between rows, handing out papers to each student. “Today is the second day of your time here at Hogwarts. Can I ask how you faired the first?”

A few goods and wells sounded through the room.

“Humph- yea, that was me. Just hope you don’t turn out like I did. I don’t think any of you will turn out to be trouble makers.” His eyes lingered on a boy for some time. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Croot?”

The boy snickered, taking the joke lightly. “No sir.”

“No, course not! You’re all gonna be good ducks- keep in line, that sort of thing. However, I am going to say that this is one place where you won’t have to do any of that. As long as you behave yourselves to a degree in my classroom, there will be no trouble. You may know me as the Slytherin Head of House, but I assure you that there will be no discrimination of any sort. I fully believe in equality of all houses. Now, on a lighter note, allow me to hand you your books.”

Books fell from the ceiling with a loud thump, scaring some students while others sat with stoic expressions on their faces. Clare, who was sitting next to Ellie, almost had a panic attack with how far she jumped off the seat.

“Oops, sorry there. Didn’t think that’d startle some of you that much. You okay there, Ms. Anderson?”

“Yea, I’m fine,” Clare said.

“Alright, honestly sorry about that. As long as you’re okay, we can start talking about the curriculum for the school year. As you know, the ministry has a list of spells and techniques that you must learn such as simple wards and how to treat werewolf bites, but I’m sure that you’d like to learn some other tricks along the way. Unfortunately, we won’t get into anything to interesting until your third year. Until then, you’ll be stuck in here with normal, boring, first and second year work. I’ll try to make it at least somewhat interesting for you. Do you all agree then?”

“Yes,” a few students drawled slowly.

“I can’t hear you?”

“Yes Professor!”

“Very good! Then allow us to have a marvelous year!”

\--

Upon departing from the classroom, Ellie turned to Clare as she said, “I don’t like him.”

“Why not?” Ellie asked. “I think Mr. Nitrom is really nice!”

“Yea I know, right?” Kathy said, running up to them from seemingly nowhere. “He’s an awesome Head of House. But I’m sure Mr. Truman’s good as well. He’s the Potions professor you know.”

“Yea, he told us,” Ellie said. “Oh! Clare, this is Kathy; Kathy, Clare.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m ever so sorry about this, but I’m afraid I must be off to History of Magic. I just saw you two and thought I’d say hi. Anyway, see you two at break, then?”

“Sure!” Ellie said. “Well, you’ll see me, I can’t speak for Clare.”

“Well, whatever happens, happens. Good day then.”

She waved goodbye, but as soon as she turned around, Ellie found an arm slung around her neck and turned to see Nancy giving her a dirty glare.

“What did we tell you about Slytherins, Ellie? I know that you’re new to this business, but it was only two days ago. Look- if they’re wearing green, you should probably just stay away.”

“I don’t get it though, Kathy’s so nice. She’s not anything like you said Slytherin kids are.”

“Fine then, make your own mistakes,” she said with a dismissal wave of her hand. “Come on- we have Herbology together! Finally! Gryffindor and Hufflepuffs should really have more classes together. Oh- by the way, how far have you gotten in that Harry potter book we gave you? Far enough I hope.”

“She finished it last night,” Clare said. “Don’t even try to fight me on this Ellie. I saw your soul flittering about whenever you got to an action scene, you woke me up actually a few times. It gets really bright. I’m not angry, just read in the bathroom or something next time.”

“Oh, sorry,” was all she could come up with in reply before Nancy was almost screaming in her ear.

“What did you think of it? How about that plot twist? Wasn’t it great? Oh my gosh, we have to get you the next one! Screw Herbology! We’re heading to the library!”

“I hope you weren’t being serious, Ms. Jones,” Mr. Nitrom said from behind her, which caused them to turn around and see him smiling mischievously behind them.

“Uh, no sir! I was only joking!” Nancy said hurriedly.

“Then you best get off to Herbology. Professor Longbottom is quite a patient man, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to keep him waiting, do you?”

“No sir! Come on girls, we’re going to be late!” Nancy said. And Ellie was being dragged away once again. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that she was simply getting used to the act.

Meanwhile Nitrom was left shaking his head and saying “Gryffindors,” under his breath.

\--

They made it to the Herbology lab with only a little time to spare. There they found a man in long robes standing outside of a greenhouse with a grin on his humble face.

“Good morning class, and welcome to Herbology! I only have a few things to say before we go inside. For one- don’t touch any of the plants! Even if they don’t look like they’re moving, they might not like it.”

“Sorry, plants move?” one boy said. “Like a fly trap?”

“Well, there are some. You’re a muggleborn?” The boy nodded a bit meekly. “Ah, that explains it. No harm. Come up to the front.” He was hesitant. “Come on, I won’t bite, not that these dumb teeth of mine would do much harm, would they?” A few chuckles rang out and the boy walked to the front of the class. “Good, now hold out your hand.”

 He raised a shaky palm and Professor Longbottom placed his own hand under his, and one on top. Slowly, something started to slither out of his sleeve and sit upon the boy’s small hand. It resembled a serpent in its movements and shape, yet it also seemed to tread in a simple, delicate manor across his hand.

“That would be a recently discovered plant, which has yet to actually get its own name. Quite interesting, isn’t he?” Professor Longbottom asked as he lowered his hand and took the plant back. This time, it scampered up his arm and onto his head.

The small boy nodded.

“So there are a lot of those in there?” one girl asked.

“Nope. These are extremely rare, and only live in a certain region in the north. This one was actually brought down here for me by a friend. She was in the arctic for research, and found a colony of these little guys, and asked me to study them for a while. They’re sentient so, that they can move away from colder areas in the water. They’re sort of like magical tumbleweed!”

“What’s tumbleweed?” one boy asked, raising his hand.

Ellie quirked an eyebrow in wonder. What kind of person didn’t know what tumbleweed was?

“Oh, it’s just a muggle plant that moves around and settles when they find decent soil,” Professor Longbottom explained to the class, causing them to gape in wonder as they imagined something akin to the plant he held in his hands.

Ellie understood as soon as he said it. It was a muggle plant. This thing however, that sat quietly upon his shoulder, was not a muggle plant. It was new and strange and she fell in love with it instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a long while since I posted a chapter, and I'm really sorry for that! I hope I can start staying on top of this a lot more!


End file.
